@article{ref1,
title="An examination of "don't know" responses in forensic interviews with children",
journal="Behavioral sciences and the law",
year="2014",
author="Earhart, Becky and La Rooy, David J. and Brubacher, Sonja P. and Lamb, Michael E.",
volume="32",
number="6",
pages="746-761",
abstract="Most experimental studies examining the use of pre-interview instructions (ground rules) show that children say &quot;I don't know&quot; more often when they have been encouraged to do so when appropriate. However, children's &quot;don't know&quot; responses have not been studied in more applied contexts, such as in investigative interviews. In the present study, 76 transcripts of investigative interviews with allegedly abused children revealed patterns of &quot;don't know&quot; responding, as well as interviewers' reactions to these responses. Instructions to say &quot;I don't know&quot; when appropriate did not affect the frequency with which children gave these responses. Interviewers rejected &quot;don't know&quot; responses nearly 30% of the time, and typically continued to ask about the same topic using more risky questions. Children often answered these follow-up questions even though they had previously indicated that they lacked the requested information. There was no evidence that &quot;don't know&quot; responses indicated reluctance to talk about abuse. Implications for forensic interviewers are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0735-3936",
doi="10.1002/bsl.2141",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2141"
}